For two consecutive years now, Graphic Packaging Intl. (GPI), Marietta, GA, has walked away with the Assn. of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters & Laminators' AIMCAL Metallized Product of the Year Award, named in honor of PFFC's former publisher, Peter Rigney. Also a repeat is the location for the award ceremony, with it once again held at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA, on March 21.

Flatbread by the Order

Graphic Packaging captured yet another award for technical achievement in the Food Packaging category for a dual-susceptor package for WeightWatchers Smart Ones microwavable flatbread from Heinz North America, Warrendale, PA. The package is billed as the first of its kind with a structure comprising overprint varnish (OPV)/ink/SBS/adhesive/pattern susceptor/48-ga PET.

Its unique feature, with the aid of Focus Inset susceptor lamination (pattern metallization by Rol-Vac, Dayville, CT), is the ability to offer a crisper product on one side and a softer product on the other side. International Paper, Texarcana, TX, supplies the SBS, and DuPont Teijin Films supplies the PET. A special adhesive bonds the PET film to the paperboard, and an extrusion system ensures proper delivery of the glue and increases line speeds without compromising the integrity of the seal.

Directions for softer flatbread instruct the consumer to unwrap the flatbread and place it on the grid pattern segment of the susceptor and set the hinged carton top back in place. Crisper flatbread requires tearing off the perforated carton top, removing the flatbread, and flipping the carton over so it acts as a platform. The consumer then must place the carton top on the platform with the metallized side up and set the unwrapped bread on it.

JoAnna Terhune of Heinz North America is credited with package design. The dual-susceptor design simplifies inventory requirements for two different products.

Graphics Are 3-D Quality

A stand-up pouch for Werther's Original candies won the marketing award in Food Packaging for Taghleef Industries SpA, SanGiorgio di Nogaro, Italy. Graphics have a rich, 3-D quality made possible by spot matte lacquer that contrasts with glossy areas.

Taghleef supplies the 48-µm TSS biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) laminated to 20-µm ZSF metallized film for the pouch, converted by Constantia Hueck Folien, Pirk, Germany. The construction is a source-reduced replacement of an aluminum foil lamination.

Hit the Lights

Hazen Paper Co., Holyoke, MA, snagged the marketing award in the Nonfood Packaging category as converter for a holographic folding carton for Caribou Crossing Single Barrel Canadian Whiskey from Sazerac Co., Frankfort, KY. A multi-dimensional Northern Lights effect is made possible from holographic material that comprises a laminated Ultracure lacquered Rainbow 80-ga OPP to the coated side of 0.024 SBS using a water-based adhesive.

Soft Touch

TinkerBell DVDs from Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, CA, merited a technical award in the Nonfood Packaging category for Unifoil, Fairfield, NJ, with an ultraviolet-printed acrylic-coated, holographic rainbow PET film/paperboard. On the front panel, raised printing imparts a tactile feel of a leaf image in combination with a raised sparkle coating on TinkerBell's wings. The acrylic coating contributes to a superior lamination and ink bond while also providing flexibility for fault-free scoring and gluing.

Glitz & Glam

A gem-studded gift box for Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds products from Elizabeth Arden, New York, NY, earned Hazen Paper a marketing award in the Healthcare, Cosmetic & Toiletries Packaging category. Hazen acted as metallizer and converter of the 48-ga in-line polyester-coated box with Ultracure acrylic lacquer, which it then laminated to 0.018 SBS using a water-based adhesive.

Brilliant silver film acts as a base for the final rich gold background color and holographic stamping. Of special note was the precise registered embossing of the holographic “jewels.”

Family Ties

A “family” of various media is tied together visually by way of complementary holographic effects, winning for Vacumet the marketing award in the Decorative Display category for Presidente Light Beers from Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana, S.A., Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Vacumet supplies substrates and metallization for a holographic bottle label, multipack carton, point-of-sale poster, and shelf-talkers.

Crown Roll Leaf, Paterson, NJ, was the metallizer; IGH Solutions, Inver Grove Hts., MN, designed the package and served as contract packager.

Safe & Secure

Earning the technical award in the Other category was JDSU, Santa Rosa, CA, for HoloFuse polycarbonate security film used for identification cards and passports. The substrate combines high-security demetallized holography with clear polycarbonate in an adhesive-free construction.

Without adhesive, the structure is simplified, costs less, reduces waste, and eliminates hot-stamping or patch-lamination production steps. Other security features also are possible since the film, in either sheet or roll form, is compatible with laser engraving.

The 24-pt clay-coated solid unbleached sulfate (CCSUS) carton, designed by Bryan Schuttinger, Concord, NH, is said to eliminate the need for corrugated shippers and thereby reduce materials requirements because of the lamination of 18-pt uncoated recycled board reinforcement strips to load-bearing areas of the CCSUS. The thinner Z-Flute carton doubles the number of multipacks per pallet to reduce the number of pallets and truckloads needed to ship product.

Reverse-printed, metallized film provides scuff and moisture resistance while boosting shelf impact with the use of transparent and spot opaque white inks. Gravure-printed graphics were designed by Diane Brewer, Lawrenceburg, TN; contract packaging is performed by Langer Juice Co.

Technology of the Year

Deserving a final award in the Technology of the Year Competition as part of AIMCAL's trifecta of contests was Celplast Metallized Products Ltd./Vast Films Ltd., Toronto, ON, Canada, for its patent-pending Metacoat roll coating technology. The process allows coating and metallizing to occur in the same pass at standard metallizing speeds.

A gravure coating station applies an acrylate and/or methacrylate liquid to the film surface, followed immediately by electron beam curing. Coating can occur before or after metallizing. Dramatically improved economics result from eliminating separate metallizing and coating passes, but in addition a metallized film's barrier properties also can be increased, as topcoating immediately after metallizing protects the metallized surface from microscratches and defects caused by roller contact and downstream processing.

An additional four technologies were named as finalists in the competition, with judges noting this year's entries represented one of the strongest fields of entries. Once again Graphic Packaging's Disney branded juice pouches (see Peter Rigney Product of the Year award on p32) were recognized in the Coated, Laminated or Metallized Product category for their environmental and productivity advantages resulting from the Composipac Z-Flute folding carton design. Judges noted the construction's ability to eliminate the need for corrugated shippers, thereby reducing material costs and waste and simplifying handling for retailers.

FLEXmark floor art 6605/6600 from FLEXcon Co., Spencer, MA, also was named a finalist in the Material category (also see PFFC, December 2009, p24). The floor art is used as an advertising medium and comprises a two-part system that pairs printable vinyl with white double-faced polyester laminate, which provides an opaque base for the printed graphics. Judges were impressed with the structure of the floor art material as well as the product's ability to significantly increase sales by as much as 30%.

Nordmeccanica NA, Edgewood, NY, earned finalist honors in the Coating/Laminating Equipment/Accessories category for its One Shot three-ply, solvent-free laminator. Two onboard coating stations apply adhesive to two substrates to join a third at a lamination nip for a three-ply substrate in one pass, cutting waste by more than 50% compared to the two-ply back-to-back traditional process. A rewind immediately following the lamination nip helps control the process and stabilize the laminated materials despite the low shear resistance of solvent-free adhesives.

Dark Field Technologies, Orange, CT, also was recognized as a finalist for its patent-pending NxtGen-Haze instrument in the Metallizing Equipment Accessories category. The device moves haze measurement on line, measuring and mapping haze in real time and issuing an alarm if user-set parameters are exceeded. The full-web inspection system replaces off-line measurements and functions in a manner that allows removal of sections that are out-of-spec while positively impacting productivity by eliminating the wait for lab tests.

Sustainability Award

Recognition was given to two members for their sustainable efforts to reduce environmental impact, minimize energy usage or wastes, and/or increase recycling.

Bryce Corp., Memphis, TN, received honors for a lamination with 33% bio-based content for Frito-Lay North America's (Plano, TX) 10.5-oz packs of five flavors of Sun Chips. The lamination has an outer layer of polylactic acid (PLA) film converted by SKC Inc., Covington, GA, from Ingeo resin by NatureWorks, Minnetonka, MN, and is considered the first step toward a fully compostable package.

Bryce adjusted printing inks along with web tensions, process temperatures, and bonding processes to deliver a lamination that would provide adequate snack food barrier properties. A PLA replacement of PP reduces consumption of petrochemical-based film by about 1 million lb/yr, and the Ingeo resin consumes about 50% less fossil fuel than production of PP.

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Hazen Paper also was honored for a film-free, transfer-metallized 0.026-in. SBS that served as a windowed folding carton for Crown Royal 75 VAP from Diageo North America, Stanford, CT. The heavy caliper board both protects the contents and serves on the transfer-metallized uncoated side to provide a gold backdrop for a 750-mL bottle of Crown Royal and two glasses.

The transfer-metallized board replaces a film/paperboard laminate, cuts material consumption by nearly one-third, requires substantially less metal, and increases production rates by eliminating hand-loading of a previously used 48-ga polyester/foil/paperboard insert. The package also is more easily recycled.